His deft crafting adds a dimension lacking in other stories of its ilk, but it's not a mere embellishment of existing tropes. Aickman’s ‘strange stories’ (his preferred term) are constructed immaculately, the neuroses of his characters painted in subtle shades. A man becomes suddenly obsessed with a woman he sees in a restaurant, he goes after her, contending for her love with a quite sinister figure.

I was effortlessly drawn into nearly every story within a few sentences and held in thrall almost the entire time – wonderful! I was surprised and a bit saddened to see two excellent reviews of this book insist that it is not horror. It’s funny because I complain about how open-ended Aickman leaves each story but the one time he gives a clear meaning I’m still not satisfied - dude just can’t do endings! The style of story and writing puts me in mind of Stoker and Poe and Dahl's adult works where the reality of what is told only sinks in afterwards. Robert Aickman seems to have discovered that good horror comes from no horror at all, merely the allusion of it.Choice of Weapons" is completely outré as we follow a man who falls in love with a woman at first sight whilst on a date with another and then the consequences of his obsession unfold.

While Aickman's sentences are masterful works of art, they oftentimes only serve as a frame for what is missing. After a woman's old school friend has an accident, she is asked to look after the house she recently inherited from her strange father. Although he falls in love with Ariel and finds the house idyllic, he notices some strange things about the place, in particular a number of inexplicable alterations to the landscape.As protagonist after protagonist is undone by temptation and lust, one can’t help but divine a sinister double entendre in the book’s title – something nocturnal and obscene. One reason I picked this up, other than getting hold of several stories not included in the relatively cheaper and more readily available collections, was to get to read the legendary "Ringing the Changes". The neuroses that plague some of his characters are like tumours which grow slowly yet surely and become life threatening in the end. I really loved Ringing the Changes, The View and Bind Your Hair with The Waiting Room being the weakest.